The Rising

THIRTY-TWO

I LET THE HALF-DEMON drive us to North Vancouver. That meant we’d have a five-kilometer hike to Stanley Park, but it was as close to our destination as I dared get. There was, I knew, always the possibility that this was a grand scheme to make me lead them to Daniel, Corey, and Ash. Given the complexity of the plan, I doubted it, but I was still being careful. The bigger risk was that these guys would decide they could make more money by turning us all over to the Nasts—or the Cortezes.

So the guy let us out in a North Vancouver strip mall, wished us well, and drove off. Hayley and I pretended to head north. Once the taillights vanished we changed course, staying hidden behind and between stores in the commercial strip along the highway.

As we walked, I explained more of what was going on. Then I took out the voice recorder and pressed Play.

“Maya,” Antone’s voice began. “This is . . .” A hesitation, then “Calvin. If you’re listening to this, then you’ve gotten away and you’ve met the men I hired to facilitate that. I’m sorry if you were hoping for more assistance. I don’t think you were, but I’m sorry all the same. I’m treading carefully here. If you do return to negotiate, I can’t help if I’m being held in the Nast jails for treason.”

“Return?” Hayley said. “Negotiate? What’s he talking about?”

I whispered that I’d explain later.

Antone continued. “Later on this tape, I’m going to tell you more about Project Genesis. You already know some of that—you asked me about Elizabeth Delaney the first time we spoke. You may have heard that a small group of those subjects escaped. That’s not entirely true. They did, but they were found again a few months ago. The St. Clouds have been monitoring them. I’ve provided information on their whereabouts. You need to go to them and tell them that the St. Clouds are watching them. Then you need to convince them to turn themselves in.”

“Seriously?” Hayley whispered. “Is he nuts?”

I shushed her again.

“I told you that you need leverage to negotiate, Maya. So do they. Separately, you’re just two groups on the run. Join forces and you will all have enough leverage to negotiate a return on your terms.” A pause. “That return will include the Delaneys.” Another pause. “Your parents. I know that’s what you want and I know that’s what you need.”

We’d all get our families back, he promised. Then he told us everything we needed to know to get to the Project Genesis kids.

When the tape finished, I braced for Hayley’s outraged protests. Instead, she was quiet for at least a half kilometer. Then she said, “Okay. So what are our other options?”

“We run.”

“Run where? We’d need a goal, right? We can’t just run forever.”

“There’s that guy they mentioned in the car. Lucas Cortez. We could go to Portland, find him, and see if he’d help.”

“But his dad is CEO of another Cabal. One that’s at least as powerful as the Nasts. I’m getting the impression these Cabals aren’t exactly charitable organizations.”

“Agreed. It’s a possibility, though. Or we can find the Project Genesis group, tell them, and run with them.”

“And then what?” She sighed and shook her head. “That’s really what it comes down to, doesn’t it? And then what. Calvin’s right. We can’t run forever. We don’t want to. I want my mom and my dad and my sister back. And, yes, I want some kind of normal life back. I know that makes me sound like exactly what you’d expect—a spoiled cheerleader—but it’s what I want.”

“Me too.”

She looked at me, surprised.

I shrugged. “I know that ‘totally normal’ is out of the question. I don’t think we ever had that anyway. But I want my parents and I want a life. Plus, we have medical issues—Annie’s reversion, Corey’s headaches, and possibly more we haven’t found out yet.”

“Then this really is our only option.”

“It seems so.”

When we reached the park, I started getting anxious again, thinking about Daniel. Would he be here? How badly was he hurt? Had Rafe made it? Soon my hands started itching, my muscles bunching, my nails thickening.

“You know, that could get really inconvenient,” Hayley said as I rubbed my hands and tried to refocus.

“Tell me about it,” I muttered.

“Do you know what causes it?”

“Stress. Fear. Anger. Right now, it’s door number one.”

My arms started throbbing. I rubbed them. Hayley noticed and sighed.

“Okay, change of subject. Let’s—” She stopped. “Um, explain to me why we don’t want you changing into a big cat?”

“What?”

She gestured at my pulsing arms. “Why not let you change? You can move faster as a cougar. You can see in the dark better. You can sniff them out better.”

I stopped rubbing my arms. “You’re right.”

“Don’t sound so shocked.” When I protested, she cut me off. “In the van, did you really think I was taking a nap? I was faking it so they’d relax and maybe we could escape.”

“Oh.”

“Yeah, oh.” She rolled her eyes. “Go on and do your shape-shifting thing.”

As usual, I passed out to shift. When I got to my feet, I was still groggy enough that I let out a yowling squawk when a voice behind me said, “Wow.”

I twisted to see Rafe there.

He crouched to eye level. “I didn’t mean to startle you. I thought I heard voices earlier, so I jogged over and Hayley said you were in here. She made me wait until she could be sure you weren’t naked anymore.”

I chuffed.

“Yeah, I was disappointed, too.”

I rolled my eyes. He walked over and crouched again. Then he reached out and ran his fingers along the fur from my chin to my neck.

“Wow,” he said. “I am trying so hard not to be envious right now.”

I moved closer, rubbing against him, relieved he’d made it. Then Hayley appeared.

“Yeah, yeah,” he said. “I waited. She was decent. Although, technically, she’s still naked.”

“You’re such a perv.” She turned to me. “Okay, kitty. Lead on. We’ll try to keep up.”

“Yeah, good luck with that,” Rafe said. “If she runs, we’re history.”